Merry Meet and Merry Part, and Merry Meet again

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Wiccan Reads---Dolores Stewart Riccio, Wiccan Fiction

It is hard to find really good Wiccan fiction. But with the writings of Dolores Stewart Riccio, you have hit the jackpot!! I stumbled across her series quite by accident, whilst browsing amazon.com for new authors.




The first book in this series, that totals seven at this time, is called Circle of Five.  This is where we meet five women of varied backgrounds who have formed a friendship. This friendship moves beyond just kaffee klatches and lunch dates. These women experience a spiritual awakening and form a circle to explore Wicca and all the varied magickal practices that each woman has a particular gift for. Tarot, herbal magick, candle magick, psychic skills, and more.  Soon they find themselves involved in a missing child case in their town of Plymouth, Massachusetts, and events spiral into a wild and scary adventure that none of them expected or were prepared for.  As the story progresses, we learn how these women care for each, cope with individual crises and deal with the prejudices against witchcraft that can be found in towns large and small.

The characters are real, warm, funny, serious..they span the ages of a young mother with children, accomplished business women, and a delightful lady of a certain age who has the gift of glamour: the magickal glamour where she seems to apparently alter her appearance.

I  became so fond of these women as I continued on with the series. I would love to have a Circle of friends just like this. Dolores Stewart Riccio writes with a real sense of place and purpose. Her characters are so delightful, so strong, but also so real in their everyday lives. There is comedy, romance, mystery, frights, drama.  Ms. Riccio has a strong background in Wicca and its sabbats, esbats, rituals, spell casting, history, and all manner of magickal practices. It was a joy to read this series!!  Please, please give yourself a treat and read the first book, Circle of Five. You will be glad you did...you will enjoy!  I do so swear!

The Circle books are seven at this time: 1: Circle of Five; 2: Charmed Circle; 3: The Divine Circle of Ladies Making Mischief; 4: The Divine Circle of  Ladies Courting Trouble; 5: The Divine Circle of Ladies Playing with Fire; 6: The Divine Circle of Ladies Rocking the Boat; 7: The Divine Circle of Ladies Tipping the Scales.

A note about the Fourth book, The Divine Circle of Ladies Courting Trouble. Ms. Riccio changed publishers at some point during her writing of this series, hence there may be difficulties finding "Ladies Courting Trouble". I was having a terrible time myself. Amazon.com did not have it, except for some astronomical price, Barnes and Noble did not have it all, and neither did any other website, or store I called. Finally, I went to Dolores Stewart Riccio's website:  http://doloresstewartriccio.com/
What a delightful site, filled with information, poetry and Ms. Riccio's email address. So I sent her an email about my trouble...and she emailed me back almost immediately, offering to pass along to me one of her "uncorrected proof" copies of the book. For 5 bucks + $3.50 shipping.  And I jumped at it (she must have thought I was some deranged reader and wanted to be rid of me!!! LOL) Anyhoo, she mailed it off right away, and even autographed it:    


So read her books and visit her website. She is a real gem, and I adore her and her books. It is a wonderful way to pass the time with some Wiccan friends, who may be fictional, but are very real to me!

8 comments:

Aisha @The Bewitching Bibliophile said...

thanks so much for the recommendation, I myself love maggie shayne and have re-read her books often enough to leave creases, (im a book nut my books still look like they belong on the store shelf brand new) so you know that means I love her. I also love Isobel bird although hers are more for teens,
I will be getting these
thanks so much
BB

Anonymous said...

Thank you for adding to my wish list. I, too, love these type of books. My favourite is M.R. Sellars - Rowan Gant series although I do warn that he can be very vivid and not for everyone. I love them myself. I am adding these ASAP - Hugs and sparkles - WG

Robin Larkspur said...

Aisha and Witchy: Thanks for your recommendations, always looking for books to read in between waiting for other books to come out!! Robin

The Traveler said...

Thanks for the recommendation! I'm always on the lookout for new book series, lol. My husband swears that the people at Barnes and Noble should be sending me thank you notes every holiday, lol. Have you checked out Madelaine Alt? Their are great murder mysteries and look at some less well known aspects of the craft while her main character sorts through it all.

Robin Larkspur said...

Traveler: I have read the series by Madalyn Alt and loved the first three books, the last one or two not so much. But I loved the whole "Marcus or Tom" competition. I voted naturally for Marcus.....I hope you did too!!!!!

The Afflicted Girls said...

Hi Robin,
Could you take a look at my book THE AFFLICTED GIRLS A Novel of Salem and possibly add it to your list? Book website: www.theafflictedgirls.com It incorporates Wiccan wisdom, and it won the 2010 IPPY Silver Medal for Historical Fiction (Independent Publisher Book Awards). Thanks,
Suzy Witten, Author

Robin Larkspur said...

Suzy Witten...Thanks for stopping by my blog. Your book looks very interesting to me, so I will stop by my book store and see if they have it. If not, I will ask them to order it. Looking forward to reading it. Blessings to you!!

The Afflicted Girls said...

Thank you, Robin. I'd be happy to do an interview, or answer questions about my research. A review of my book is currently displayed on the Covenant of the Goddess website, listed under the "articles" tab, and also printed in the Samhain issue of the newsletter. Suzy